Confession: the moon made me do it
🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 Rituals for tonight's supermoon 🌕 🌖 🌗 🌘
Tonight features the fourth and final supermoon of the year, the Harvest Moon. As a selenophile (yes, there’s a word for someone who loves the moon) every full moon is an opportunity to reflect, recharge, and set my vision for the days ahead. But a supermoon — when the moon is so close it feels like you can reach out and grab it — a supermoon is something I see not just with my eyes but feel with my essence. So for today’s confession, I give you the best gift I can think of: a primer on loving la luna.
In my family, when we make a wish, it’s always followed with, “by the moon.” It isn’t rare to find my mom outside at night, hands stretched up to the moon in prayer. As women, our connection to the moon is primal. The moon governs not just the tides, but also our cycles. Right up above us in the sky a monthly cycle boldly plays itself out, without shame, and yet, we run around hiding or ignoring our own. The moon is my reminder not to hide. To recognize and express myself fully in all my phases.
Imagine a life where brokenness is part of wholeness, where what is hidden is as relevant as what is illuminated? This is the world the moon governs. We just forget sometimes that we are part of it. This wasn’t always the case. The moon has been recognized for centuries by cultures around the world for her magic. Which means that when you look up at the moon in awe, you’re connecting not just to the moon, but to your ancestral heritage. The moon is the very moon that delighted my grandmother’s grandmother, and yours. The moon is the very moon that delighted my childhood self each night before bed. In this way, the connectivity of wonder transcends time and space, and all we need to do to remember that is to look up.
There are many ways you can connect with the moon. The key is to create your own ritual, and practice it alongside her. I’m sharing some of my favorite moon rituals with the hope that tonight, you’ll adopt one of mine or create your own.
Write by moonlight
Some of the most beautiful poetry I’ve ever written is inspired by the moon, but that’s not the only writing I do by moonlight. Every full moon I journal about both my present and my vision for my future. It is the only journaling I commit to each month, and the impact of my Moon Musings has been profound. In January of 2019 by the light of the blood moon lunar eclipse I found the courage to take my first self care break from my business, Fred and Far. But I don’t just reflect upon the present. Throughout the last two years, each full moon I start a vision statement for myself with the words, “With love and gratitude, I claim these desires as my present.” I then write exactly where I want to be and how I want to feel in the future as though that future is here, now. I adapted this practice from Joe Dispenza. I invite you to try it and see how good it feels to claim the future of your dreams. When your dream come true, you’ll understand the subject of this newsletter: the moon made me do it. The moon is what inspired me to make space for myself, my dreams, my future.
Bathe by moonlight
A great way to carry the full moon’s radiant energy with you throughout the month is to literally soak it up. Talk a walk by moonlight and envision the moon’s cool, serene energy filling you with every inhale. Then with every exhale, let go of whatever you need to let go of — which in my case lately has been tension, aggression, and feeling inflammed. You can also literally take a bath, and welcome in the moon’s energy through the water to calm you down. In addition to bathing in moonlight, you can also charge your favorite crystals by letting them bask in the moon’s glow, too. To be effective, the moonlight should directly hit the crystals, so make sure to do this outside.
Is this woo woo nonsense? Only if you believe it is. Or you can realize the power of ritual devotion. Rituals forge a greater connection between us, our environment, our lives. The moon will come and go entirely unchanged whether you create a practice around celebrating her. But you are the one that will forego being transformed if you let the sacred slip into the mundane.
Listen by moonlight
No Self Love Confidential is complete without a playlist. Enjoy my moon magic playlist as you create your own full moon rituals… may I recommend listening and dancing in the moonlight?